Consumer products are commonly sold in retail stores that market such products by placing them on store shelves. Many consumer products are free-standing (e.g., cereal boxes, cans of soup) such that they do not require a support apparatus to be placed on a shelf. Other consumer products, however, are not substantially free-standing. Of these non-substantially-free-standing products, some of them require a particular orientation on the shelf (e.g., packages that have oriented surface indicia). One particular example of interest is absorbent articles (e.g., disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, tampons, and pantiliners).
Many absorbent articles are packaged in flexible film (e.g., low density polyethylene). Once packaged, the resulting package shape is generally rectangular. Such rectangular shapes typically have a larger front and rear surface which provides the most surface area for the placement of surface indicia (e.g., graphics, text, pictures). However, basic scientific principles (e.g., center of gravity) dictate that the rectangular shape package is most stabile when placed on one of these larger surfaces. Thus, the surface indicia is not seen by the consumer, especially when one package is stacked on top of another (see the prior art example in FIG. 1; a variety of absorbent articles 800 are shown). If the consumer cannot find their desired product on the shelf amongst a multitude of stacked packages, then they are less likely to purchase the proper product for their particular application, thus resulting in potential dissatisfaction with the entire brand. Furthermore, when consumers search through several stacks of products to find their desired selection, they are more likely to mix the product versions with one another. Consequently, the shopping experience of subsequent consumer is worsened. In addition to the consumers' frustrations, the store clerk has similar difficulties when attempting to determine reorder amounts and proper product placement.
What is needed is a shelf display apparatus to store absorbent articles which are packaged in a flexible film in a substantially upright position. Such an apparatus would present these packages in a better orientation resulting in improved product identification for both the consumer and store clerk.